Smells!

[Secretblackandmidnighthag]

We have a cellar which fills with a few inches of stinky water. We can't afford at the moment to get it tanked, and if we got a pump we'd be pumping out the whole street (it's a terrace and everyone has the same problem!). Problem is, a stale smell wafts up from the cellar and I'm not sure what to do about it . You can mainly smell it in the hall. Any ideas?

Other people may have better ideas, but I think a pump is the only option - this cannot be healthy and there will be mould and bacteria building up which is why it smells. We had a leak which led to our cellar flooding and our insurance paid for the clean up, but it was awful and because it happened in the summer things started to go mouldy pretty quickly.

Our flood was a one off incident covered by accidental damage insurance so sounds different. What about your neighbours? Is there a problem with drainage that your water suppliers could help with? Can you speak to the council's environmental health department?

Sorry for asking so many questions, but this is a real concern and you can't live like this. Have you been there long?

It's just where the water table sits. All houses sit in water, we just have a higher level than most! There is no damp or mould, and we've had a damp proof course anyway. We've talked about getting a pump but not sure if there's any point, if we can't afford to tank it?

We are in a Victorian terrace. Our neighbour regularly pumps water out if his cellar, other neighbour just doesn't go down there!

Get a pump definitely especially if it's smelling.